DHAKA: The extremist Sunni militant group that recently declared a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq wrested control of a major Syrian oil field in a sweeping land grab Thursday.

A string of villages and towns along the Euphrates River fell like dominoes to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, bridging the Syrian province of Deir Ezzour with the group's recently gained territories in Iraq's Sunni heartland, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

A video statement from the leaders in the town of al-Shahil announcing their withdrawal from all anti-ISIS organizations triggered the quick fall of a majority of Deir Ezzour province.

Fighters for the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, the largest and most powerful affront to ISIS, had been headquartered in al-Shahil. Fighters began melting away late Wednesday.

After taking control of al-Shahil, ISIS demanded that fighters surrender their weapons and repent for fighting ISIS. It then called on residents to leave the town for a week to 10 days until "peace returns to the streets,”. 

Source: CNN 

BDST: 0956 HRS, JUL 04, 2014